RepRap/CoreXY: Progress Report

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The RepRap project has slowed a bit, but that’s only because of my need to order a bunch of parts on a time-constrained budget. The Arduino/RAMPS 1.4 package is here, and as I write this draft a few other electrical components are en route.

Realistically, I probably should have gotten the V-Slot Linear Rail first, but I like the idea of having the electronics in-hand right away, and the deal on the Arduino/RAMPS at Amazon was pretty dang good. (Follow the link in the first paragraph — Arduino board, RAMPS, LCD, etc. for $33.)

Progress

Slow. Ordering parts. Really have to fight the urge to go hog-wild and buy a ton of it. There’s electrical stuffs on the way. I didn’t allocate my whole budget to the project this last payday, as I couldn’t pass up a great deal on a Garmin ANT+ USB dongle for my Mac — need that for offseason training/Zwift.

Anyway, I’ve spent about $60 so far, all told, or about 12% of my budget. For that price, I’ve gotten:

All the 3D printed parts ($0)

The Arduino/RAMPS package ($34)

The power supply ($20)

Miscellaneous electrical crap. ($6)

Scope Creep!

I’ve been waffling on the PLA vs. ABS functionality. PLA doesn’t really make for long-lasting parts like ABS does, and with the nature of what I’ve been building at the office, durability is a key function. So that might require some thinking, and then there’s other things occurring to me:

Do I want to be able to swap heads so I can use it as a CNC router?

Do I want a dual-extrusion head so that I can run some sort of soluble support material?

Wait…What’s RepRap?

In short, it’s the open source software that runs a 3D printer. The printer design I’m using itself is a D-Bot CoreXY. I need to get more familiar with RepRap because I want to know if it can handle dual-extruder heads and support material.

In Summary

Short update. Wanted to make it clear that this project was still alive and kicking.